AppLovin (NASDAQ:APP) Shares Down 3.1% – What’s Next?

Shares of AppLovin Corporation (NASDAQ:APP) fell 3.1% during mid-day trading on Thursday . The company traded as low as $360.12 and last traded at $375.23. 8,680,630 shares were traded during mid-day trading, an increase of 39% from the average session volume of 6,233,967 shares. The stock had previously closed at $387.34.

Key Headlines Impacting AppLovin

Here are the key news stories impacting AppLovin this week:

• Positive Sentiment: Piper Sandler reiterated an Overweight rating and an $800 price target, arguing Google’s Project Genie and other competitive fears are overblown and pointing to compelling valuation and favorable gaming trends. Why Piper Sandler Says Google’s Project Genie Isn’t a Threat to AppLovin (APP)
• Positive Sentiment: Wedbush reiterated that structural moats for AppLovin and Unity remain intact despite competitors’ new product launches, supporting upside from durable ad/gaming market positions. AppLovin, Unity’s structural moats are ‘intact,’ despite CloudX launch: Wedbush
• Positive Sentiment: Zacks notes overall Wall Street analyst optimism—useful because buy-side/sell-side reaffirmations can stabilize sentiment after recent volatility tied to short reports and litigation. Is AppLovin (APP) a Buy as Wall Street Analysts Look Optimistic?
• Neutral Sentiment: Longer-term price forecasts and models are being updated (multi?year projections published), which may influence investor expectations but are speculative and time?horizon dependent. AppLovin (NASDAQ: APP) Stock Price Prediction and Forecast 2026-2030 (Feb 6)
• Neutral Sentiment: Routine financial-comparison pieces are circulating (peer/metrics comparisons) — informative for longer-term investors but unlikely to move the tape immediately. Financial Comparison: AppLovin (NASDAQ:APP) vs. Bbhc (OTCMKTS:TRNX)
• Negative Sentiment: Heightened bearish commentary: a Seeking Alpha author moved to a sell rating after the CloudX launch, arguing competitive risk justifies a downgrade and pressuring sentiment. Why I’m Moving To A Sell On AppLovin Following The CloudX Launch (Rating Downgrade)
• Negative Sentiment: Coverage highlighting “far more worries than a short seller’s report” amplifies uncertainty around legal, governance and competitive issues—these narrative risks can further weigh on the stock until clarified. AppLovin has far more worries than a short seller’s report
• Negative Sentiment: Unusually large put-option volume (121,413 puts; ~+80% vs. typical) signals elevated hedging or directional bearish bets, which increases downward pressure on short-term price dynamics.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several research firms have issued reports on APP. Zacks Research upgraded AppLovin from a “hold” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a research note on Thursday, January 1st. UBS Group set a $800.00 price target on AppLovin in a research note on Tuesday, January 13th. Scotiabank lifted their price objective on shares of AppLovin from $575.00 to $750.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research report on Thursday, November 6th. Wedbush reissued an “outperform” rating and issued a $465.00 price objective on shares of AppLovin in a research report on Thursday. Finally, Jefferies Financial Group raised their target price on shares of AppLovin from $800.00 to $860.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Thursday, December 11th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, twenty have given a Buy rating, three have issued a Hold rating and one has issued a Sell rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, the stock has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $691.23.

AppLovin Stock Up 8.4%

The stock’s fifty day simple moving average is $619.83 and its 200-day simple moving average is $567.95. The stock has a market cap of $137.45 billion, a P/E ratio of 49.36, a P/E/G ratio of 1.24 and a beta of 2.49. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 2.38, a quick ratio of 3.25 and a current ratio of 3.25.

AppLovin (NASDAQ:APP) last announced its earnings results on Wednesday, November 5th. The company reported $2.45 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $2.34 by $0.11. The company had revenue of $1.41 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $1.34 billion. AppLovin had a net margin of 51.27% and a return on equity of 258.49%. The business’s revenue for the quarter was up 68.2% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period last year, the firm earned $1.29 earnings per share. As a group, research analysts forecast that AppLovin Corporation will post 6.87 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Insider Activity

In other news, CTO Vasily Shikin sold 15,540 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, November 24th. The shares were sold at an average price of $549.09, for a total transaction of $8,532,858.60. Following the completion of the sale, the chief technology officer owned 35,889 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $19,706,291.01. This represents a 30.22% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Also, insider Victoria Valenzuela sold 7,609 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Thursday, December 18th. The shares were sold at an average price of $657.13, for a total value of $5,000,102.17. Following the completion of the sale, the insider directly owned 277,110 shares in the company, valued at approximately $182,097,294.30. This represents a 2.67% decrease in their position. The SEC filing for this sale provides additional information. Over the last three months, insiders sold 337,986 shares of company stock worth $198,669,261. 13.66% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On AppLovin

Large investors have recently bought and sold shares of the company. Vanguard Group Inc. boosted its position in AppLovin by 0.7% during the 4th quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 25,120,575 shares of the company’s stock worth $16,926,746,000 after buying an additional 166,117 shares during the period. State Street Corp increased its position in AppLovin by 111.1% in the 3rd quarter. State Street Corp now owns 11,852,466 shares of the company’s stock valued at $8,516,471,000 after acquiring an additional 6,237,051 shares during the period. Invesco Ltd. raised its stake in shares of AppLovin by 9.4% during the third quarter. Invesco Ltd. now owns 4,292,752 shares of the company’s stock valued at $3,084,514,000 after acquiring an additional 367,083 shares during the last quarter. Jennison Associates LLC lifted its holdings in shares of AppLovin by 55.2% during the third quarter. Jennison Associates LLC now owns 3,886,150 shares of the company’s stock worth $2,792,355,000 after purchasing an additional 1,381,970 shares during the period. Finally, Kensico Capital Management Corp grew its stake in shares of AppLovin by 3.1% in the third quarter. Kensico Capital Management Corp now owns 3,118,500 shares of the company’s stock worth $2,240,767,000 after purchasing an additional 95,000 shares during the last quarter. 41.85% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

About AppLovin

AppLovin Corporation is a Palo Alto–based mobile technology company that provides software and services to help app developers grow and monetize their businesses. The company operates a data-driven advertising and marketing platform that connects app publishers and advertisers, delivering tools for user acquisition, monetization, analytics and creative optimization. AppLovin’s technology is integrated into a broad set of mobile applications through software development kits (SDKs) and ad products designed to maximize revenue and engagement for developers.

Key components of AppLovin’s offering include an ad mediation and exchange platform that enables publishers to manage and monetize inventory across multiple demand sources, and a user-acquisition platform that helps advertisers target and scale campaigns.